


Arch to the Sky - One Lines

by kalijean, SLWalker



Series: Arch to the Sky [84]
Category: due South
Genre: Arch to the Sky, F/M, Gen, M/M, One-Lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-27
Updated: 2012-02-29
Packaged: 2017-10-25 00:20:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalijean/pseuds/kalijean, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/pseuds/SLWalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-line stories from all eras of Arch to the Sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author :: Character :: Prompt**

 _kalijean_ :: Dewey :: Silence  
Dewey wondered if the silence that followed would remind his partner that his name wasn't Louis.

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Open  
Ray never realized how _loud_ the lock on the house was, until he slipped the key into it after sneaking back from Ren's place twenty minutes before Ma would wake up.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Moon  
 _...and most emphatically not the ass-out-the-window kind,_ Turnbull scribbled after, wondering just how shocked his sister would be for the addition.

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Knife  
The first time she tried dating again after her divorce, Frannie carried a knife in her purse; she wondered when the day would come that she actually attracted someone _safe_.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Tear  
Tearing the fake mustache off, Ray stuck it to the mirror while he shaved; it still superimposed his face.

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Held  
His father made him bananas and oatmeal, but all he really wanted was held.

 _kalijean_ :: Guy :: Peace  
"Peace!" he called back nonchalantly as he ducked out the window, hopefully before the girl was awake enough to remember his name.

 _SLWalker_ :: Meg :: Cat  
She never liked cats, she preferred dogs, but when the kitten darted out to steal the piece of meat that fell out of her sandwich, Meg still couldn't help but smile.

 _kalijean_ :: Severn :: Empty  
If the worst thing to happen today was an empty coffee pot and a hyperactive Mountie on his hands, Russ Severn thought he was probably way ahead.

 _SLWalker_ :: Longfellow :: Blanket  
Longfellow blinked his eyes open with a start when the blanket settled over him, just in time to catch the retreating back of a Mountie; maybe the frustratingly polite loser who arrested him wasn't so bad, after all.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Bike  
"Fraser! FRASER!" Kowalski yelled, trying to pedal the little pink bike faster to catch up with the red-clad Mountie outpacing him.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Startle  
Ray didn't have any idea what the Dragon Lady was daydreaming about when he rounded the corner, but there was something kinda satisfying about seeing her be the one to knock over a stack of papers for once.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Shine  
By the time he got to the last layer of polish on his high browns, making them shine, Turnbull thought perhaps he had put one small thing in the universe right again.

 _kalijean_ :: Chase :: Sunlight  
Mike got the feeling that Laurent's sunglasses had absolutely nothing to do with sunlight.

 _SLWalker_ :: Mark :: System  
Mark had a system; it always worked, because everyone else in Toronto had the same system... so why wasn't it working here?

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Summer  
Fraser thought it was a very simply presented case against the use of the phrase "Indian Summer"; sometimes he wondered if Ray Kowalski ever really heard him at all.

 _SLWalker_ :: Elaine :: Green  
She thought it was a distant shame that Vecchio wore such gaudy, bright clothes; they drowned out the green of his eyes and she was sure that was why he had such a hard time scoring dates.

 _kalijean_ :: Myra :: Muffled  
It had been a long time since she'd heard her brother cry, and the ache was lessened neither by age or the muffling of the sound at her shoulder.

 _SLWalker_ :: Buck :: Beat  
Buck waited a beat before carefully moving Thatcher's leg from where it had ended up between his, hoping to God she wouldn't wake up and knee him in the goolies.

 _SLWalker_ :: Bob :: Shadow  
Bob watched from the deep, black shadows of night while his son tried to start a fire and told himself that this was the best way to teach him.

 _SLWalker_ :: Irene :: Point  
Irene stared into her brother's dark, hate-filled eyes and thought, for the first time, maybe Ray had a point.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Maple  
It struck Kowalski as really ironic that most of the Canadians he'd met so far didn't actually like maple syrup.

 _kalijean_ :: Frannie :: Blue  
Hey, she could deal with the dead animal; Fraser looked _good_ in blue.

 _SLWalker_ :: Welsh :: Wicked  
For half a second, while he stood in his doorway, Welsh could have sworn he saw a wicked expression cross the Mountie's face.

 _kalijean_ :: Guy :: Dream  
Guy figured he was lucky he wasn't the type to get all insecure about his masculinity, because it was starting to look like that wasn't a dream.

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Stop  
Even as he was running, he knew he should stop, because one look at Ray's face was all the reason he needed... but he kept going anyway.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Highway  
Turnbull was _not_ an AC/DC enthusiast, but neglecting to turn down the radio on his approach was not this particular motorist's first mistake.

 _SLWalker_ :: Ma Vecchio :: Ace  
She was entirely too used to their household bills hanging on the ace of spades.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Sing  
Stella sang like a goose in a blender, and he'd listen forever.

 _SLWalker_ :: Chase :: Critical  
One of the most sickening things in the world was realizing that he was covering things up just like the Force he was so critical of, even when he understood why.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Scars  
Sometimes when Fraser read, Dief would curl up beside him and his fingertips would stray to the old bullet scar hidden in fur.

 _SLWalker_ :: Mort :: Coffee  
For some reason, no one wanted to have a cup of coffee with Mort while he was down here working; silly people, they seemed to think that death would seep into the beans.

 _kalijean_ :: Longfellow :: Bite  
He really wasn't into that shit, but nobody seemed shocked when Longfellow knocked her off the couch to land on Guy.

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Battle  
When he crawled into the big, plush bed and felt like he'd just gotten the shit kicked out of him, he knew it was just the aftermath of one more battle in this neverending war.

 _kalijean_ :: B420 :: Echo  
There was no voice left behind, but there would always be the smooth space on the steering wheel.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Walls  
Kowalski was a lot more patient than people gave him credit for; he was just waiting for the walls to come crumbling down.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Silly  
Meg returned Turnbull's silly smile for a moment before she felt stupid and looked away.

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Honest  
As she washed off her makeup for the night, she realized that it was hard to be honest... especially with oneself.

 _kalijean_ :: Myra :: Tired  
Myra jerked awake when she felt someone taking Renfield from her arms, and surprised her mother by not letting go.

 _kalijean_ :: Welsh :: Shatter  
It was annoying, getting used to the feel of a new coffee cup; the last one Welsh sacrificed against a wall when they lost Gardino.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Doze  
Sometimes when Fraser left him at the Consulate, Diefenbaker would doze at Turnbull's feet, and he found he liked the weight under the desk.

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Low  
People always thought Guy was a low-life, until they heard about his money, which was why he never told them.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Phone  
Listening to her brother recount his shift filled her with a sense of pride and closeness, even when they were almost three thousand kilometers apart.

 _kalijean_ :: Severn :: Lightning  
In some places it was the bolt of lightning that started the fire, but with Turnbull, Severn thought it was starting to look like it put one out.

 _SLWalker_ :: Stella :: Melody  
The melody soothed her jangled nerves after she kicked off her shoes and danced with a man who wasn't going to follow her around.

 _SLWalker_ :: Zuko :: Question  
The question that haunted Frank for the rest of his life was wondering what would have happened if he'd hit who he'd been aiming for, instead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains explicit lines.

**Author :: Character :: Prompt**

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Jealous  
When she watched Fraser ruffling the wolf's fur and got jealous, Frannie maybe kinda started wondering if she had a _problem_.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Cold  
It was Kowalski's first _look_ -look at his new boyfriend's naked chest, and he thought maybe the cold up in Canada had its advantages.

 _SLWalker_ :: Welsh :: Red  
In the green of the precinct, the red stood out; Welsh wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, these days.

 _kalijean_ :: Guy :: Lines  
Guy woke up with the lined indent of the carpet on his face and the realization that last night's bender didn't make the niggling worry go away.

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Brush  
Ray eyed the hairbrush longingly, then sighed and rubbed back over his lack-of-hair.

 _kalijean_ :: Longfellow :: Lonely  
"Man, the beer's getting lonely," Longfellow called back through the door, neglecting to mention that it wasn't the only thing.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Bra  
"Oh, heavens," Myra couldn't help but laugh, while her little brother swung her bra around from where he had apparently gotten it from the clothes hamper, pretending it was a lasso.

 _kalijean_ :: Welsh :: Quiet  
God only knew how he ended up in a room full of fainting knuckleheads, but after Fraser sat up like that, he was gonna take screwball quiet over screwball screaming.

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Teeth  
Fraser never quite realized that Turnbull had teeth until they were bared at him.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Perfume  
The cloud of perfume from the woman who sat next to him in the church pew made it very hard for him to concentrate on the pastor's words.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Music  
Pounding bass blasted from the car and distorted against the wall behind him; he wondered if the bewilderment showed in his eyes in the photograph the apparent tourist took of him from the car.

 _SLWalker_ :: Buck :: Sniff  
Buck chewed down a smirk when he saw his recruits trying not to sniff; if one had to have flatulence problems, he supposed that one had to at least have the grace to be entertained by them.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Sleep  
He tried not to flinch at the heavy footfalls in the hallway; Frannie was asleep on his chest, and the longer she slept, the better.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Rainbow  
Ray saluted the rainbow flag hanging off that old shack in Whitehorse, and then grinned when the owner caught his eye and saluted back.

 _kalijean_ :: Chase :: Curling  
There was nothing in Mike that wanted to meet Guy on the sheet, but if forced into it he'd have had Laurent over Longfellow, if the bent look of that brush was any kind of preview.

 _SLWalker_ :: Mrs. Turnbull :: Sticky  
Myra's baby squeals as she dragged the sappy stick around the back yard were more than a little incentive for her mother to grin in joy and thank God that she wasn't going to have any more children after.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Lennox!  
Fraser didn't generally imagine things, unless one counted his father, so he was reasonably certain the man he walked by on his way out of the airport actually did swallow a cigarette.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Lennox!  
The guy sitting next to him in the bar vaguely reminded Ray of someone, but he wasn't sure who; when the guy caught a look at Ben coming in, though, he did a double-take and Ray figured maybe the guy had run into trouble before.

 _kalijean_ :: Severn :: Laurent  
"...just..." Severn sighed, figuring that attempting to jam such a thing into a logically functioning brain was probably a bad idea, "...just have him clean it up before someone sees it and tell the man he'd better be glad we can't figure out what the Hell to charge him with."

 _SLWalker_ :: Huey :: Duck-boys  
Huey was half-tempted to change his name just so he could get away from those damned stupid jokes.

 _kalijean_ :: Mark :: Ice  
Mark pulled the piss-covered cling wrap off his toilet seat and resolved to give Longfellow ice-dick by shoving some snow down his pants next time he saw him.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Graffiti  
The graffiti on the water tower usually reappeared once a year; this year, however, he was quite red to discover that his ex had been labeled several uncomplimentary things in thick black letters and he was quite determined to make Guy paint over it in the guise of community service.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Sweet  
She explained to the child politely that while a dandelion was rather sweet, it was not appropriate to decorate the Mounties while on sentry duty.

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Web  
When he was sober, the cobweb just looked like a cobweb; when he was high, though, it looked like a million possibilities in a truly beautiful universe.

 _kalijean_ :: Frannie :: Stargazing  
She liked to think about all that stuff; he would cook for her, be a real gentleman, be kinda foreign in a quirky way, and her kids could be half-Canadian; maybe he would take her up North and show her the Northern Lights and all those stars that are supposed to show up when you're not stuck under three tons of smog and every ugly streetlight known to man.

 _SLWalker_ :: Dewey :: Life  
Dewey waved his Playboy around and complained, "I don't care what they do, I just don't want to have to see that _lifestyle_ , you know what I mean?"

 _kalijean_ :: Maria :: Warm  
Ma made him a plate out of habit, and it sat there 'til it wasn't warm anymore; Maria covered it over and stuck it in the fridge without even really knowing why.

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Glitter  
The glitter that had been dropped on his boots meant a great deal of polishing to clean it off, but Fraser tucked the homemade Christmas card from a five-year-old into his father's chest anyway.

 _kalijean_ :: Ma Vecchio :: Snow  
It was the first snowfall since her husband died; even through the falling snow and the fogged glass of her window, she was quietly heartened to find her son could not be mistaken for him.

 _SLWalker_ :: Meg :: Pin  
Pinning the collar into place over the neck of her red serge uniform always made Meg feel somehow more complete.

 _kalijean_ :: Myra :: Saskatchewan  
Her brother's letters had gone just that bit off again, and she wondered if she had some business to take up in Saskatchewan in the near future.

 _SLWalker_ :: Maggie :: Spike  
Even years after Casey was gone, Maggie sometimes felt a spike when she thought about him and his warm arms holding her close in the winter's night.

 _kalijean_ :: John :: Fathers  
For all the don't-hurt-my-daughter-or-I-shall-kill-you speeches he'd gotten from fathers in his life, he never expected the guy to hate him most would be his girlfriend's little brother.

 _SLWalker_ :: Mort :: Drama  
Mort silently cheered for that young couple, even as the rest of the precinct seemed to feel it was all right to gossip and turn them into a spectacle; he remembered too clearly a time when such things were immediately deadly, and whenever someone asked his opinion, he told them so.

 _kalijean_ :: Guy :: Dust  
Renfield had given him back the hockey stick long before he left, and wherever Guy ended up, it usually collected dust in a corner somewhere.

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Dirt  
Ray stopped caring about dirt on his outfits or shoes; after Vegas, screw Armani and screw fine Italian leather and screw Armando's insistence that his wardrobe and shoes be kept free of desert dust.

 _kalijean_ :: Longfellow :: Lights  
Sometimes, even provinces away, when Longfellow saw lights like that he still expected to see Turnbull poke his head out the cruiser window.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Lazy  
The next time someone accused Ray Vecchio of being a lazy cop, Turnbull was going to strongly consider permanently changing their dental impressions.

 _kalijean_ :: Welsh :: Loss  
Welsh knew a thing or two about loss; enough to know that Huey was full of shit if he really expected people to believe he was over it that quick.

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Name  
Frannie was a fully-grown woman, but she still didn't think there was anything childish about testing her first name out with the last names of men she had taken an interest in on paper.

 _kalijean_ :: Severn :: Retirement  
Retirement wasn't going to make him forget; sometimes a man just had to live with unanswered questions and loose ends in life, even if it stuck bitter in his mouth.

 _SLWalker_ :: Ma Vecchio :: Soft  
Her Raimundo didn't want anyone to know he was soft on the inside, but it was hard to hide things from your mother; even little things, like him wrapping up a plate of food for Benton Fraser so he could take it with him the next morning.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Grief  
For all the grief her subordinates had given her over the years, now that it was upon her, there was something disconcerting about silence.

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Trap  
Guy watched the highway patrol Mounties with their sneaky unmarked cars and smirked as he dialed the payphone so he might spring their trap on the right persons who would bring certain substances into Nipawin without due consideration for the many straight-laced people who called the town home; it would do well to teach people not to bring drugs out onto Renfield's streets... much better to keep it indoors and away from everyone else.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Soul  
It seemed everyone held some foolish opinion on Ray Vecchio, but he'd stand himself up against anyone who thought they knew a thing about his soul.

 _SLWalker_ :: Chase :: Why  
Chase knew he wasn't the only one who wanted to shake the screaming, sobbing, drunken woman and demand some sort of answer as to why she thought it was all right to drink when it ended her son's life brutally upon the asphalt.

 _kalijean_ :: Frannie :: Glass  
She was interested, sure, but still trying to figure out how the Hell a man who seemed like he could shatter glass by looking the wrong way at it could ever do real cop work.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Stairs  
The stairs up to his apartment looked all wrong, the first time Kowalski walked up them as Vecchio.

 _kalijean_ :: Mitchell :: Turnbull  
Don't tell anyone, but after he'd heard about some of the snippy griping, sometimes Mitchell did it just because he wanted to keep the guy on his toes.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Clock  
Myra watched the clock, but it seemed that even for long as Renfield slept on her couch, the dark shades of exhaustion wouldn't fade from under his eyes.

 _kalijean_ :: Mort :: Art  
There was an art to what he was doing, and he hoped the taller Mountie would forgive him for making no move to help the man off the floor.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Damp  
The damp spring air made his serge feel heavier than usual, as he trudged his way through the unexpected fog towards the consulate.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Scent  
Ray sniffed the air, and then sniffed it again; his head appeared around the door and he asked with a little bit of glee, "Italian?"

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Regret  
There were few things Fraser regretted nearly so much as seeing the now-healed bullet wound in Ray Vecchio's shoulder and hearing his own words 'even Steven' echoing back to him.

 _kalijean_ :: Chase :: Letter  
Sometimes he wrote a letter in his head; it was always just routine stuff, how the detachment was doing, little pieces of news, but it never made it to paper.

 _SLWalker_ :: Longfellow :: Gleam  
There was a funny gleam in Mark's eyes when he watched Turnbull sometimes, and it always made Longfellow feel skeevy.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Messy  
He figured when they got back to Chicago, coming out was gonna be real messy; he never figured somebody would've beat them to it.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Strawberries  
The man who had his marijuana sunglasses pulled down his nose to look at her smelled like strawberries; she was in the middle of puzzling out why when her brother interrupted in a shockingly abrupt manner.

 _kalijean_ :: Bob :: Love  
Bob figured that his son wasn't the first man to lose the top of his hat to love and wouldn't be the last, so he wasn't going to comment any further.

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Calm  
Ray was unnaturally calm when he read the letter from Fraser telling him that Kowalski was gonna stay up in the Great White North.

 _kalijean_ :: Gardino :: Victoria  
You never really knew anybody, Gardino always figured, but even he didn't know what to make of that mess.

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Whack-a-Mole  
As devastated as her family was, Frannie still wanted to beat people whack-a-mole style for daring to gossip about her brother.

 _kalijean_ :: Irene :: Loss  
She wasn't supposed to be remembering what they lost, but Irene had never seen eyes like that, especially not ones that looked at her that way.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Voice  
The first time he realized that this might be a whole lot harder than hot arctic sex was the first time Ben decided that he'd rather spend one of his rare days off going to a muskrat festival than with Ray.

 _kalijean_ :: Myra :: Peace  
Her brother had given her a gift, insulted her, and dampened her shirt; there was still some peaceful unknotting of her stomach when he fell asleep on her lap.

 _SLWalker_ :: Severn :: Heart  
When Mike walked in with heavy steps and a dazed look on his face, Russ wondered how many humans hearts fell casualty to what happened.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Desperation  
"... _please_ \--" The give-in was so swift that Renfield barely strangled off a cry.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Silver  
The silver flash of Detective Vecchio's cuffs on the very unwilling suspect reminded Turnbull, if only for a moment, how much he missed doing his job.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Sing  
She wouldn't allow it to herself when anyone else was present, but she found the acoustics of the Consulate to be ideal, especially that of the hallway.

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Go  
Sometimes, Guy almost found it in him to go back and beg Jeanne for forgiveness.

 _kalijean_ :: Maria :: Dinner  
That night she thought about spitting in Pop's dinner, but she was too afraid Ma would catch her.

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Lift  
Ray would never forget the look on Ren's face when Ray actually scooped him up off of the kitchen floor to carry him to bed; sure, it made old injuries protest, but the expression of shocked wonder would linger a whole lot longer.

 _kalijean_ :: Chase :: Night  
Turnbull and Laurent were like night and day, and Chase had to wonder sometimes just what kept the two together.

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Blown  
The first time that Ray wrapped his mouth around Fraser's erection was the very first time Fraser had ever, in the vernacular, been _blown_ \-- he thought, for the barest moment before the sheer pleasure hit him, that perhaps it was a poorly chosen term as what was happening was much more clearly _sucking_... but then, of course, he thought nothing at all.

 _kalijean_ :: Longfellow :: Win  
"So Guy won that bet and I've got a three-eyed, three boobed sailor girl tattooed someplace I ain't showing a guy... What's that look for?"

 _SLWalker_ :: Meg :: Blink  
She had always been ambitious, but nothing spurred her to climb the ranks like standing sentry duty in Ottawa, afraid to even blink.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Empathy  
Sometimes Kowalski wanted to kick some empathy into the side of Dewey's head, without realizing that maybe he should get some himself.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Baby  
Mark tried to call him 'baby' once; for all that he was infatuated with the man, the look Renfield gave him insured that it never happened again.

 _kalijean_ :: Welsh :: Resignation  
They'd been bickering like little kids for so long now that Welsh was starting to resign himself to having to threaten his detectives with spanking or something.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Oops  
Myra watched her one-year-old brother sneeze in their aunt's face and privately cheered 'two for two!' as she pretended to wince and go get a napkin.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Loss  
Sometimes Fraser still looked over his shoulder; the thought of what Dad would say to what he might manifest in front of - _Great Scott, Benton, I knew the Yank was a little off but I never thought it was catching_ \- often made him smile a little sadly.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Salt  
He added a dash of salt to the dish and then stood back with a high-pitched little noise of pleasure; Miss Vecchio was certainly going to have a fine lunch today.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Morons  
Detective 'Vecchio' and Turnbull were looking across Turnbull's desk and she could vaguely catch the steadily more exasperated, snippy explanation of how curling worked spaced out with snide comments from the American and Meg entertained the thought of knocking those two morons' heads together before opting to sigh and shut her door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author :: Character :: Prompt**

 _SLWalker_ :: Chase :: Bees  
When Russ told him about the bees, Mike wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or wince more.

 _kalijean_ :: Mitchell :: Transfer  
After the transfer, somewhere along the line Mitchell found himself quietly picking up after himself.

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Sneak  
She heard her brother sneaking into the house late at night, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where the heck he was.

 _kalijean_ :: Diefenbaker :: Turnbull  
This one was good for more than donuts; when Dief was in the mood for a full spread, he need only hang around the Tall One long enough.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Cheat  
Ray had to wonder, as he watched the teams on the ice, if it would be cheating to write Turnbull and ask again about this curling thing.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Duet  
Fraser could correct Ray's pitch if he'd truly wanted to teach the man to sing, but he found in his blindness he wouldn't have changed that voice for anything.

 _kalijean_ :: Huey :: Fight  
Huey felt like he didn't have any fight left in him after Gardino died; something in him got buried with his partner.

 _SLWalker_ :: Buck :: Caroline  
He only visited her grave once himself, and when he did, he knelt and took off his hat as a gentleman is supposed to for a true lady.

 _kalijean_ :: Elaine :: Torch  
Sometimes she still called Frannie, and at finding out the girl was carrying a torch for Turnbull, that 'What?!' came out a lot sharper than she'd meant it to.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Buck  
He could occasionally see a wily flash in Sergeant Frobisher's eyes, and it was with that in mind that he reacted the way he did to that entirely ridiculous speech; it seemed they both, perhaps, were in on the same joke.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Buck  
The man was flatulent, sure, but having to share a bed for warmth, she'd take noxious over perverted any day.

 _SLWalker_ :: Dewey :: Dream  
Dewey liked to pretend that he didn't have any dreams, but sometimes they whispered to him just before he fell asleep, reminding him that they were still there, even if he never had the balls to chase them.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Vecchio  
"He doesn't always show it, and he's got his problems with authority, but he's a real stand-up guy underneath; you ever tell him I said this, Kowalski, and I'll have you by the scruff of the neck, but you've got some big shoes to fill."

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Queer  
Whenever she thought the word 'queer' these days, Frannie felt sick; she wasn't sure if it was because of Ray, or because she was starting to think that the tone she thought it in was really _ugly_.

 _kalijean_ :: Welsh :: Thatcher  
Of all the Canadians he had to put up with, Thatcher was the least _off_ , and it was then he realized the curve of _off_ had gotten really sharp somewhere before he noticed and he was long settled in to bizarro theater.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Tracy Jenkins  
Renfield was reminded all over again of how much Ray loved him when he didn't wince too badly at Tracy Jenkins playing on the radio of the Riv.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Possession  
He was pretty sure it was because of the joke he made after the whole neck-marking thing, but after looking down to see _Property of Constable Renfield Turnbull, RCMP, Keep Off_ in marker across his own thigh, he wore it to work underneath his suit.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Baseball  
He blinked at the new rookie for the Cubs on the screen, shivered, and then immediately changed the Consulate's television to some other channel.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Envy  
The first time Ray put himself between Fraser and an apparent admirer, talking quickly and belligerently, he had a niggle of [deja-vu](http://sl-walker.livejournal.com/233025.html) that he was still trying to work out.

 _SLWalker_ :: Mrs. Turnbull :: THE TALK  
"Here. These books should adequately explain everything you need to know. If you have any other questions, dear, please let me know after I've finished grading papers."

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Muldoon  
Sometimes Kowalski wondered what it was about Fraser that attracted super villains; one day he was gonna give the guy a mask and a cape and see if he wore 'em.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Crush  
Her first crush had been on Fred Astaire, and her seven-year-old heart had been broken when she was told that he was far, far too old for her and already married; regardless, when he died in '87, she sat down and watched a few of her favorite movies and remembered when she thought she could be Ginger.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Chase   
_I can only imagine what my Field Training Officer thought of me at first; I am pleased with my detachment, in any case, and continue to settle in._

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: 3:36AM  
When Guy dialed, supporting a bloodied Longfellow, he already knew who would take that call at 3:36AM.

 _kalijean_ :: Longfellow :: Safety  
Sometimes - just sometimes - things would settle, and there wouldn't be any practical jokes or bad trips or fights, there was just quiet, and he wouldn't tell anybody, but he liked those times.

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Bucket  
Ray called the Riv a bucket, but the truth was, he felt a pang of sadness when that car ended up in the lake... after he was done getting over the insanity, anyway.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Uneasy  
There was a look in the woman's eye that made Turnbull uneasy, but nobody was speaking up, and there was no proof; that one bothered him for days until he was, inevitably, back at the same house.

 _SLWalker_ :: Chase :: Tree  
"Turnbull might be willing to stand here and coax you down, but I'm not -- get the hell out of that tree, Laurent, or I'm going to chainsaw it down with you in it!"

 _kalijean_ :: Severn :: Snow  
God only knew where Mike had been keeping that carrot, and while Severn had been delightedly informed that the snowman was meant to be him, he couldn't honestly see the resemblance.

 _SLWalker_ :: Longfellow :: Lick  
Longfellow licked at his teeth just to make sure all of them were still there.

 _kalijean_ :: Guy :: Chase  
There was nothing else to be done for it; Guy belched, shrugged, and opened his arms once again to the four winds, leaving only a single imprint in the snow by Chase.

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Lennox!  
For some reason, the blond he met at that particular bonspiel was surprisingly easy to talk to without having to say much of anything at all.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Touch  
He wasn't one to shy from touch, and neither did Fraser usually seek it; however, there was a strange uneasiness to being touched while sentry, unable to move or object, and he wanted the woman to stop.

 _SLWalker_ :: Tony :: Weird  
Tony didn't think there was anything weird about his brother-in-law being elusive, despite Maria fretting about it, not even when it turned out Ray was banging another guy -- it wasn't like there was a whole lot of room for sex in this house.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Break  
Kowalski drank his coffee on his break, and Dewey drank his coffee on his break, it's just how it was and they didn't usually talk; but man, right after the fake funeral, he felt kinda stupid about it but he still reached over and gave Dewey a clap on the shoulder.

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Fool  
Her face was burning when she went into work the next day, but everyone was so focused on Ray that they didn't care about what a fool she had been.

 _kalijean_ :: Diefenbaker :: Vecchio  
It was counterintuitive, but humans often were; Talker would appear far more belligerent just before giving Diefenbaker precisely what he wanted, and the more often that Talker gave in, the more often Benton gave up on attempting to discourage the donuts.

 _SLWalker_ :: Elaine :: Business  
When Elaine took down her first suspect on the beat and only shook for an hour afterward, she knew she was ready for this business.

 _kalijean_ :: Dewey :: Nervous  
When Frannie walked in the next day with a red face and a bad case of the nerves, Dewey hadn't looked at her either, but he did sneak a cup of coffee onto her desk.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Glass  
Renfield traded the boy a Canadian dollar for a single marble, simply because it came reasonably close to the shade of Ray's green eyes.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Fear  
The first time he saw that look in his boyfriend's eyes - a thousand miles away - he knew too damn well exactly what it was, and he never wanted to see it on Ren.

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Snap  
There was the sharp snap of a branch breaking and Ben tried harder, faster, to light a fire alone in the darkness, trembling.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Demand  
 _You will stop that this instant or I shall wallop you with a spoon_ , he thought to himself, but telepathy was beyond him and his sister's words echoed pointlessly in his mind as the spitball hit him.

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Young  
When the young man came up to try to join them in their illicit dealings, he promptly turned him away -- too young, too young, too stupid to make that choice yet.

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio :: Soft  
His hair was soft, perfectly shaped around the ears, babied and cared for; it was, until it one day it was gone and Frannie did a double-take as he walked down the hall.

 _SLWalker_ :: Bob :: Leaf  
Bob picked up the perfect red maple leaf and smiled at it, then turned and handed it to Caroline, an impromptu little gift.

 _kalijean_ :: Welsh :: Ghosts  
There weren't any ghosts in the morgue, just Mort, and for a guy that was so comfortable with stiffs, Welsh figured he was pretty damn alive.

 _SLWalker_ :: Diefenbaker :: Welsh  
The Wide One often glared at him, but just as often slipped him a cookie or part of a sandwich; Diefenbaker was glad that they had an understanding.

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Abandonment  
Fraser pat the stray before pulling her from the seat to take in to the shelter; he couldn't understand the callousness of man, sometimes, to simply forget about something once loved.

 _kalijean_ :: Stella :: Shatter  
She didn't want to be the one to shatter Ray's dreams, but why didn't he just listen when she said it wasn't something she wanted instead of charging ahead like if he just waited around long enough it would change?

 _SLWalker_ :: Vecchio :: Lid  
He went to say something -- he wasn't even sure what -- to Benny... then he told himself to put a lid on it, because he didn't even know what it was gonna be.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Maggie Mackenzie  
It wasn't until both Constable Fraser and Detective Vecchio (the second) had exited the consulate, sniffing around Constable Mackenzie, that he allowed himself a disgruntled look.

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Flop  
Renfield flopped face first on his bed and Myra just shook her head with a little smile as she got him undressed and under the covers; apparently, the trip to the newly opened CN Tower had worn him out.

 _kalijean_ :: Casey Mackenzie :: Second chances  
It was always there, the lies he told, no matter how deeply he loved her; she was his second chance, his redemption, and his crime, too.

 _SLWalker_ :: Ma Vecchio :: Toddler  
She watched Maria's children as they grew; from babies, to toddlers, to children, and thanked everything good that they would never know what it was to be struck by someone who should love them.

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Scars  
Ray traced the scar at Fraser's thigh a while; even he'd hit the guy in his time, but he still couldn't stop feeling some stab of awful at the idea somebody did anything like this to him.

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Gentle  
Kip stopped in the middle of the bouncing play to give Sally a gentle lick on the muzzle, and Renfield couldn't help giving them both a fur-ruffle simply for seeing it.

 _SLWalker_ :: Huey :: Itch  
Huey felt his tongue starting to itch and swung a look to "Vecchio", who'd brought him a cup of coffee in a rare gesture of generosity.

 _kalijean_ :: Elaine :: Courage  
Elaine thought about calling Ray up directly and checking on him, because coming out like that had to take some kind of courage, but she realized with a little pang that she didn't have access to Turnbull's number.

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull Twins :: Renfield  
It was an entirely surreal feeling to have a brother that he didn't understand the language of; so much was evident, the one time they tried to take Renfield fishing.

 _kalijean_ :: Meg :: Dinner  
She'd dismissed Turnbull an hour before, working late and allowing herself a solitary mood, when he brought her a plate of pasta and a glass of water.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One line and one paragraph, all eras of Arch to the Sky.

_SLWalker_ :: Mike :: Saran wrap  
The newly filleted fish was going to taste great on the grill, and Mike was busy thinking about recipes as he wrapped them in saran wrap, all the way up until Cindy tapped him on the shoulder and he noticed that he had used most of a roll on a single fish, and there were six more to do.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Dewey :: Red  
They were red roses, and Dewey didn't think to hate 'em for being the color of Mounties until he realized how bad it hurt that she wasn't telling anyone who sent them.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Guy :: Jeanne  
He brought her stupid, random presents for a whole week afterward; he only stopped when he realized she wasn't there at all anymore. 

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Ma :: Soaked  
When her son trudged in soaked from the rain with a bruise under his eye and the faint scent of cigar smoke still somehow clinging to his clothes, she wished she knew what to say as she wrapped his head in a towel and dried him off, throat tight.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Ray :: Reindeer  
It was funny; Ray really liked being up north more'n he let on, at least when they weren't plane crashed, but he was kinda disappointed that he never got to see a real, live reindeer. At least, until Benny launched into a long, long lecture about the dwindling herds and the improbability of reindeer aerodynamics; he threw his hands up and launched into a tirade in answer, all the way up until he saw Benny duck his head, rub his eyebrow and try to hide his grin.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Fear  
"There is nothing to fear in the simple application of these principles, Ray. Just as I showed you in the emergency; bloom, close, bloom, close..." Fraser put down a sigh. Children at the other side of the pool appeared to be laughing.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Francesca :: Metal  
The hair-clip was real pretty; it looked like real silver with real diamonds, though, of course, it wasn't. She slipped it into her backpack, and walked out of the girl's lockerroom with a burning face. That family could afford to replace it.

She ended up giving it away two days later to a younger girl, unable to stand herself for wanting something someone else had.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Ray :: Music  
When he found himself singing along with something about a pickup truck, Ray shocked himself by actually smiling.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Guy :: Collar  
Guy never had the opportunity to wear the red serge uniform, and after seeing how tight the collar was one it, he couldn't begin to pretend he wasn't grateful for that particular missed opportunity.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Russ :: Guilt   
The drunkard was guilty as sin, Russ could feel it, but he just wasn't sure of what; in the end he figured that whatever it was could probably be accounted for by the bruises on his face.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Time travel  
If it were him who built a time machine, trying to save his lost love, Renfield was fairly sure he would have never had the apparent wisdom to give up; so much the better such things were fiction.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Thatcher :: Hopeless  
She'd put it down to a hopeless case; she hesitated to ask what happened when Turnbull came back 3 hours later with a black smudge on his serge, holding her necklace.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Welsh :: Sandwich  
For a few weeks after Vecchio told him about the meat, Welsh hesitated before taking a bite of his sandwiches.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Hardwood  
"...and you're attempting to tell me the baseball-bat dent in your hardwood floor appeared there spontaneously, without any help whatsoever from your temper?"

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Ray :: Blink  
Ray could only blink at the ceiling the first time Ren licked him _there_. What.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Longfellow :: Brain  
Longfellow had a brain, but he wasn't into science, English, art or anything else, so he just decided he was gonna live hard and fast and screw what anyone else thought about it. Not like they'd notice anyway, whether he was a screw-up or a genius, and besides, it made it way easier to steal his mother's cigarettes when he happened to smoke, too.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Ray :: Bend  
Ray was kinda amazed at his own flexibility, when Ren was twisting him around and moving him around and doing whatever his big heart desired. Ray was fine with it; in the heat of it, all his own aches mostly disappeared and there was something really damn amazing about being the target of all that focus and heat. So, if Ren wanted to bend him into a pretzel, that was fine with him; he was gonna be moaning too much to complain anyway.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Victoria :: Fire  
All men were poison, it was just a matter of figuring out what kind and how well-corked it was. Her father was straightforward fire-water, uncorked explosively and as often as possible. Some guys looked like champagne until you realized the bitter aftertaste was about to knock you unconscious and God only knew where you'd be when you woke up. Some guys looked like cyanide and turned out to be sugar-water; useless. And some... some were sweetly addictive, poisoning so slowly you'd be happy to die as long as you could hold onto the bottle while you slipped away.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Kowalski :: Glow  
He thought he'd miss Chicago more. Well, okay, sure, he missed the pizza and Chinese and every other kinda food under the sun, but hey, the rations they ate weren't _too_ bad. But maybe the most amazing thing of all was the glow. Not of city lights, but of the whole universe overhead, every star in the sky, and sometimes painted in the greens of an aurora. It took his breath away.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Haze  
"Sir, I'm certain the animal was quite a surprise, but I hardly think he was lying in _wait_ in the haze in order to intentionally commit suicide under your vehicle..." Turnbull sighed. That tree would never be the same, the car was in quite a state, and so, apparently, was the owner.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Russ :: Apology  
Russ knew the RCMP had treated his detachment as the place to send Mounties to die of figurative exposure more than once. It probably showed, though not in the way they would've expected; at the very least, the men had _character_. Even if accounting for character had to occasionally account for a destroyed detachment building, vocal rebellion, cruiser rebellion, and Guy Laurent, Russ wouldn't trade it.

Especially when the apology for one of those things came in the form of the pure heaven that Turnbull could turn out of his kitchen.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Bob :: Pressure  
The pressure on parts of him that were sore made it hard to keep his mouth shut, and sometimes when Buck would step wrong, he couldn't hold back the noise of pain that came out unbidden. But even sore, even unable to walk, even unable to bite back the occasional noise, there wasn't any thought in Bob's head of another career. Or another partner.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Fraser :: Desolate  
Fraser could remember bouts of incredibly painful consciousness after the gunshot, after surgery, after all of it. He wasn't even sure they were _real_ , but he could remember them. Ray wasn't shy of insinuating his way into a hospital room long before visitors were allowed. Fraser had known... swatches of the man's voice lost in a sea of something else. Answering medical questions as he was wheeled in - I thought I saw you standing in the middle of the road - commanding the floor to be watched in case somehow Victoria came back - why the Hell would you want her to? - demanding the temperature of the room be changed - the storm closed in around us - snarling at some staff member Ray felt was handling Fraser too roughly. 

It was sliced through, out of order, out of time. Wrong. 

The worst of it, though. The worst was the memory of prying his eyes open to hospital lights, the cold reality that she was never coming back, and to the desolate look in Ray's eyes.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Turnbull :: Hands  
It was only days later that he had any thought of his hands; they throbbed enough to break through the numbness of everything else, and he realized that they must have been frostbitten, mildly. But he didn't remember them getting cold, didn't remember the pain, didn't remember it being treated; it was all lost.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Thatcher :: Smear  
She hated being so obvious, though it was only in retrospect, when she had tried to clean the smear of red paint off of Fraser's neck and jaw.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Myra :: Run  
Once Renfield was old enough to outrun her, their outings became a good deal more exhausting. And as she searched through the department store for him, her patience wearing, her fear for him increasing, she finally came to a decision and had him called for on the loudspeaker.

Needless to say, Renfield never left her side again while shopping; his face was red the entire way home, and Myra didn't have to say anything more about it.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Turnbull :: Church  
"Have you found a regular church, son?"

The neighbors seemed kind, for all Turnbull had willingly spoken to anyone since he arrived in Chicago. The question was rather mundane, very simple, of course it was a routine thing to ask. It shouldn't have felt... felt... hm. 

"--ah, thank you--" He took the literature along with the wrapped plate of food offered as housewarming, nodding politely. "--I will-- if I should-- I will of course keep it in mind."

A polite goodbye and shutting the door was far more a relief than it should have been, and the card would sit on his counter for some time afterward.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Frannie :: Understanding  
As bad as she felt about the whole thing, when she was outed about her pregnancy by accident to the whole precinct, she didn't honestly expect kindness like that from that particular quarter.

But it was Jack Huey who offered her a hug just outside her car, after shift, and suddenly, Frannie was so damn grateful to just be held for a moment, sheltered from the looks, treated so gently that her eyes teared up and she started crying. And he held her as long as she needed, just speaking softly, "It'll be all right. You'll be all right."

It didn't feel like it would be, but they were the perfect words when she needed them. He didn't want anything, didn't try hitting on her, didn't make fun of her, nothing. Just held her, a friend, when she needed it most.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Cindy :: Chatterbox  
"Shouldn't you be out catching the bad guys?" Cindy kept her pace down the street, arms crossed, glancing over now and again, but not too much.

Mike Chase kept up with her, mostly coasting, occasionally hitting the gas. Unless one counted that which came out of his mouth, in which case he was constantly hitting the gas. "Nope. Caught 'em all yesterday so I could focus on you."

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Severn :: Rich  
Nipawin didn't have a whole lot of wealth in it, but it had a couple of rich folks and Russ had noticed early on that those were the ones who liked to keep their troubles to themselves. Problem with that philosophy was, though, that Russ didn't buy into it, and neither did his men.

He looked over the third frivolous complaint filed against Chase and Turnbull, who had been running a blitz against drunk drivers, and shook his head with a smile. Good. Let them try to throw their money around in front of a judge.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Vecchio : Silly  
Benny chased the kids around, doing some kinda funny voice while telling them some kinda Inuit bedtime story. Maria's kids, some of the cousins, all of them loved the guy, and Ray couldn't blame 'em. The living room had been made into a campout, with a campfire made out of flash lights and tents made out of sheets. All the kids laughed as Benny swooped around the room like a bird, flapping his arms, and when he sat back down five or six little flashlights lit up the man's face.

There was a whole lot about what he was watching that made him feel stuff he couldn't identify, but Ray was still smiling.

 

 _SLWalker_ :: Fraser :: Flames  
As he watched the flames, he thought about the last time he had been home -- chasing poachers, hiking, camping out under the stars. And thinking of the last time, naturally, made him think of the time before that -- Ray carrying him, caring for him, the exasperation and underlying affection, and unspoken guilt, and almost childlike wonder at the wildnerness.

"What's that look, Frase?" Ray asked, mouth half full of fire-cooked meat.

The sound made Fraser smile, and he let the expression he wasn't aware he was making melt away without answering, even though the answer was a single word: Regret.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Kowalski :: Jealousy  
Nothing about this guy's life fit exactly right. The Riv was okay, but it had the distinct feeling of being completely insanely possessed by someone else about it. Vecchio's clothes were too long for even _Vecchio_ , there wasn't a chance in Hell they'd look right on Kowalski, and a family of brown-eyed Italians matched with his blond pasty behind about as naturally as sushi tacos. He figured he was gonna stick out like a sore dick in every aspect of this guy's life.

Until he saw Fraser.

And that was the first time he was actually jealous of the guy.

 

_SLWalker_ :: Longfellow :: Crisp  
 _crunchcrunchcrunch_

Longfellow was aware of the Mountie glaring darts at him, but he had no idea why. He just shoved another handful of chips into his face and raised his eyebrows in a 'what?' expression. It was late, they couldn't even curl because of some kinda falling out with Mark, and now he was being glared at for eating?

"Could you please--" Turnbull stopped a moment, then the strangest expression came over his face, like he was amused and sad all at once, then he shook his head and reached out to steal one of Longfellow's chips instead.

Longfellow shrugged and held the bag out where they could both reach, and they crunched away together.

 

 _kalijean_ :: Myra :: Ray  
John read the letter over her shoulder, her hand placed over his where it rested on the opposite shoulder.

"Ray, huh," he said, not really a question. 

Myra nodded anyway; she re-read a paragraph or two, far away smile on her face, the first she'd worn all day. 

"Are you happy?"

"Yes," she answered softly.

"Already making contingency plans if he should hurt your brother?"

She patted his hand and smiled wider.

"Turnbulls," he said, chuckling.


End file.
